Garrett AT Gold Reviews

The Garrett AT Gold was specifically designed with “Gold” in mind and that’s what you should know.

The machine has been customized around this factor and it is able to find gold better than other models due to this factor.

So I will just quickly clear up the difference between the Garrett At Gold and other metal detectors that are all-terrain like Garrett At Pro.

Garrett AT Gold works better on terrain

This metal detector is waterproof but it will not perform as well on salt water as in the terrain, whereas the AT Pro was made for both salt and fresh waters.

Garrett AT Gold does state that it doesn’t perform well in saltwater conditions however it is designed for highly-mineralized soil where gold is commonly found. This is solely down to the higher frequency of the Gold which is 18 kHz. Basically, this means that even if it’s waterproof it will not be as good as on terrain because of the interference of different frequencies.

That being said let’s talk about the Garrett AT Gold based on the UK performance and reviews.

I like to state whether I have used a machine before I review it, or if it is based on the research and findings of other users and professionals.

So to clarify I personally have not used the Garrett AT Gold because I like to metal detect for all terrain and find usual small and hidden treasure. So everything documented here is research and based on other customer Garrett AT Gold Reviews.

Design and Appearance of the Garrett AT Gold

The Garrett AT Gold looks basically the same as the AT Pro the only thing that has changed really is the size of the search coil.

It breaks down into just a few sections which makes it perfect for transportation and storage. (If you ever want to put it away of course) You have the control panel, the upper and lower stem and the search coil (5″x8″) along with the attaching wing nut.

The machine takes 4 AA batteries and these are placed in a compartment in the control panel.

It also has an internal built-in speaker, but it does include a jack for headphone use. The Gold is designed to be easily assembled.

It is again a gun-metal black color, with the grip and elbow padding being black. Owners of this have reported this as being a very comfortable machine to use.

The control panel has been kept simple again with all of the buttons in easy reach of thumbs and fingers, so you can glance and select keeping your focus on the ground.

It features the LED display which is simple and clear.

Buttons and Modes of the Garrett AT Gold

The Garrett AT Gold includes 8 simple to use buttons, they are as follows:

Mode & Power Button: Hold for one-second powers the machine up, Hold again for one second to power down, hold for 5 seconds resets the machine to factory settings, and pressing the buttons while the machine is powered on will select between the different modes.

Iron Disc: Changes the levels of iron discrimination.

Sensitivity: Changes the level of sensitivity.

Iron Audio: Used for hearing the difference in targets when discriminating iron.

PinPoint: For accurate location of the target.

Threshold: Changes the level of the background noise.

Frequency: Toggles through the levels of frequency.

GND BAL: Press and hold this button for fast auto ground balance or use in conjunction with the threshold to set manually.

The Garrett AT Gold only has 3 main modes pre-programmed, these are All metal, Disc 1 and Disc 2.

The all metal mode is a preferred selection for gold prospecting and deeper searches because it gives off a continuous audio, allowing the user to hear the quieter detection signals that are produced by “faint” targets.

The AT Gold while set to All Metal will respond to any conductive or magnetic properties encountered.

You will always hear something while the coil is “looking” into the ground.

The use of this mode works more efficiently if you have the ground balance set up correctly by canceling out the naturally occurring minerals in the ground.

Best of all the machine will give you the target ID and depth, allowing you to remain in All Metal mode at all times. This is different to many metal detectors, as usually, it would require you to switch modes to get a target ID number.

Disc modes use the tone ID feature with up to three different audio tones, based on what the metal is. They are all reported with either a medium or high tone ID in the discrimination modes. You can choose to hear discriminated iron with the low tone ID when you have set the Iron discrimination and the iron audio is in use.

To be honest with you because I have not used the metal detector it is all starting to sound a little complicated, however, I feel by looking at the reviews it’s something you need to be hands-on with to understand.

You can jump straight to reading user reviews below if you wish.

Features and Performance of the Garrett AT Gold

With the 18khz frequency settings, it would seem that the Gold has the edge on the AT Pro when finding the smaller items.

However, with it being the only 3khz indifference the performance is quite close. In fact, some say that while the Garrett Gold is in disc mode the performance is roughly the same as the AT Pro. The Garrett AT Gold is waterproof up to 10 feet, which is a major factor. It means you can get in those places that most have not been, meaning virgin grounds and more finds.

I do believe though that the AT Gold has more benefits for the American hunters.

It includes the ground balance as with the AT PRO which seems to perform to the same standards. Very handy for detecting in the highly mineralized ground. This feature decreases the “false signals” and the “chatter”

Garrett has again included the target identification numbers, to give you a target value. 1 being the most ferrous of metals and as you go up the most conductive targets come up with numbers closer to 99. This feature is something that really appeals to me, I can see how it gives you a head start and saves time because you aren’t digging as much trash.

The Iron Audio is a welcomed feature it would seem, it works very well in areas that are quite trashy let’s say for example parks or roadsides where there could be a large amount of litter. The Iron Audio will allow you to hear the signals from the Iron, but at the same time, you will hear the tone for any potential good targets.

It also allows you to adjust the mid tones so you can include all targets higher than what you have discriminated.

As far as depth tests go, the machine is reported to find well at between 8 – 10 inches (very similar reports to the Garrett Pro) after this depth signals can become a little iffy. The target ID struggles at depth and the reading you get before you dig may change as you get closer to the target.

Pro’s and Con’s of the Garrett AT Gold

Videos of the Garrett AT Gold

Final verdict for Garrett AT Gold

To be completely honest, unless you are specifically targeting gold on your days out, then I don’t really see the difference between this and the AT Pro apart from the price of course. From what I have seen the Garrett AT Gold is a little bit more expensive.

So as I have said unless you are prospecting in the States and looking for Gold then it’s a close call.